Just A Little Fangirl Love

  You know what's kind of cool? This week's music show wins cover three of the four categories I classify K-Pop under. The only one missing is a co-ed group. Boy group? Check. Girl group? Check? Soloist? Double check.  Nice. The ecosystem is flourishing. With After School Club still on hiatus, I'm still giving a rerun. This one comes from a boy group that debuted back in 2011. Episode 20, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals! And you know what's really cool? They're having their first comeback since 2018 this month! I'm really excited about this even though I previously had no previous knowledge of the group! Now, granted this is their first Japanese mini album and not a new Korean mini album, but you know what? I'm just happy to see them releasing new music. But, back in 2013, they were young and cute, and I think I really like this song. As always, the links to my reviews for these songs are found in the graph below. Show Champion: Kang Daniel "Episode...

Release date: 2025 June 16 Album tracklist: little monster, Billyeoon goyangi (Do the Dance) , jellyous, oops! bamsopoong Album runtime: 13 minutes  ILLIT, I'm delighted to say, had all members at least sixteen or older at debut and now, a year later, they have all members as adults other than the maknae. I'm inclined to encourage this on principle. I do however have to say that I've enjoyed their music so far, which is nice. Plus, they're a March debut and my first five groups were (quite by chance) also March debuts (NU'EST, BTOB, NINE.i, xikers, Stray Kids), which is hilarious. I obviously have an affinity for them. The only good news about the runtime is that the title track is over three minutes, so, sadly, it could be worse and this is a step in the correct direction for HYBE. Bare minimum has been achieved. The combination of the classic movie vibes (which aren't just trapped in the intro so thumbs up from me for that) and the electro pop, synthy elements...

Release date: 2024 October 21 Album tracklist: I'll Like You,  Cherish (My Love) , IYKYK (If You Know You Know), Pimple,  Tick-Tack Album runtime: 12 minutes  There are some things I just have to put up with as someone who isn't a fan, and not knowing when B-side music videos drop is one of them. But because this wasn't an immediate release and I'm also not actively a fan, I put it on the backburner a little until I was ready for it. But I'm good now! I'm ready! Let's do it! A two-minute song. I forgot that this album doesn't have a song over three minutes. I love the ringing at the very start of the song. It's so brief. It's barely a second long, if that, but it really sets the tone for the rest of the song. The instrumentals for this song are basically straight out of a 8-bit Nintendo video game. We're talking the early Mario or Sonic games. It was a little disconcerting on the first listen, but subsequent ones make it a lot less so as I ad...

Release date: 2024 October 21 Album tracklist: I'll Like You, Cherish (My Love) , IYKYK (If You Know You Know), Pimple, Tick-Tack Album runtime: 12 minutes  I'm pretty vocal on my stance on minors in K-Pop. The fact that they're not allowed to stay for the end of year award shows seems to be pretty good evidence that they really shouldn't be working in groups like this anyway; at least, not yet. But until enough people can say "stop exploiting the children," nothing is going to change. In the case of ILLIT, yes, their maknae turned sixteen this year, much like Dino of Seventeen when they debuted. But, also like Seventeen, the group as a whole gets to squeak by in my books on a technicality: she didn't turn sixteen after they debuted (which means she turns seventeen in their first year, which is tolerable though not ideal), and at least half of the group was already fully eighteen or older at debut. I'm also not going to bother rehashing any of the dram...